Grace and Eli joined Maya to celebrate her birthday with some bouncing castle fun

Thanks to Newberry for the photo.

Enjoying some time playing and chilling with the Claytons

Eli has hit a bit of a new groove in his ability to sit and engage in a task or play on his own. Today Donné was sitting working with Grace to make a charm bracelet from a kit she received for her birthday, and he sat next to them playing with some modelling clay making “soup” and other things with his kitchen toys. After they were done at the table, off they went to the playroom together for some dancing and play, and while we were tidying up at the end of the day Eli sat with his cars and people and didn’t want to stop when it was time for bathing. He is full of imagination and independence at the moment.

We’re safely back home from JBay, and there is always that kind or weird, in between, back but not quite back limbo between ending a holiday and starting life again. Making sure the fridge is stocked, going through emails, having to clean your own kitchen. The holiday was great – we got to shut down, relax, get some sleep and be with our family. For me is was restorative and has given me perspective on the remaining half of the year. I am fortunate that I’m excited about the rest of this year, which means it is just a matter of leaning into the hard stuff to overcome the holiday inertia. Exciting times ahead.

Enjoying some sticker book time – Grace reading the instructions and following them, and Eli playing all sorts of imaginary games with his stickers.

Gogo’s father used to sing a song to her when she was a little girl and she sung that song to Grace as a bedtime song. Grace then requested it every night and can now sing it entirely on her own. Here is Grace singing the nursery rhyme song…

The little park near the lagoon, which is effectively only a merry-go-round has provided lots of fun for our family, and I’m sure that it will keep doing so for a long time. Now Eli can go all on his own too.

Monopoly has been the game of the holiday. Grace has been loving playing, and played at least three games with her friends today. Monopoly Jr. seems to be a perfect fit at the moment – simple enough for her to understand and explain to others, she can read the chance cards, and just a fun short format of the game. It will be interesting to see when she wants to move on to full Monopoly, as well as how the context that the junior game provides will carry over to the adult version.

Monopoly time with Gabby

Cuddles and songs with Gogo before bedtime

Colouring time with Granny

Eli rediscovered the Lego amongst the holiday toys and spent pretty much the whole day pottering around and telling little Lego stories. “Rocket go space,” “Fireman on scooter-bike,” “Men fly space rocket, one, two, four, five,” (counting out the men), and so on. He is also particular about their accessories, “Where oxygen? No, not that one.”